My take on the A-Pod is it’s got a lot of servos! This is a heavy bot… I originally planned to use aluminum for this, but I think it would be too heavy. I decided to use expanded PVC instead. I have received the body panels, and it looks like my measurements were pretty accurate. 8)
As you can see the mandibles will have full 180 degree rotation. This can be symmetrical or not. I will make some small adjustments to the opening in the top panel where the electronics can be mounted as an option.
The mandibles will have full 180 degree rotation… It’s referring to the rotation part which is shown. The original used a “C” bracket as a reinforcement. This required the bump in the top of the chassis in the front. My solution stiffens the joint considerably with no additional height required. The mandibles will be here hopefully before the weekend. 8)
The femur is done, but we have shown the non ground contact version of the tibia. I also have a ground contact switch version ready to get samples of. It will really start coming together when we add the mandibles and tail. Both are 95% set in stone. Yep this will be an easy job for the vacuum molding machine. For now we put the coxa together as the other hexapods we offer. I have a fall back plan that will look more like the original, but I wanted to test it this way first. Alas the best parts are still to come. 8)
The Femur appears symmetrical one way but not the other. Notice the protrusion. If you flip the femur end-for-end, symmetry. But if you rotate the femur 180 degs about its long axis, the protrusion points the other way.
An early 1960s USAF accident investigation found a similar part in a landing gear linkage. Installed either way, the gear could be retracted, but installed wrong, and the gear could not be extended for landing. The fix was to redesign the part so that the mounting points were no longer similar and could only be mounted the right way. Murphy’s law in that instance was that, “If a part can be installed wrong during maintenance, eventually it will be.”
Of course, the A-Pod is unlikely to cost as much as that jet or be as critical to the lives of its pilots.
And I would never suggest that Lynxmotion redesign all the SES parts so they can only be installed one way.
Things were a little rushed… The Femur was made right, but my verbal assembly instructions to James made it impossible to assemble correctly. That was my fault. Over the short break I have made many changes. I should have everything in house this week to build it up.
